«Maps in History» . № 49 . May 2014.

2014·33.8 MB·English

by  BMK BRZ

49

mAY 2014
Malta’s Great Siege, 1565

In this issue:
• The mystery surrounding the Matteo Perez d’Aleccio map prints of the
Great Siege of Malta of 1565
• Report on an international workshop: History of Iberian Cartography
• Reports on our Annual General Meeting and Map Evening
• … and the usual departments
STANDARD WORKS ON THE
HISTORY OF CARTOGRAPHY
Free catalogue on request

HES & DE GRAAF Publishers BV

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T (31) 30 6390071, F (31) 30 6380099
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For more information about our
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Atlas Blaeu – Van der Hem:
www.blaeuvanderhem.com

Henri Godts

Avenue Louise 230/6
1050 Brussels

Tel. [phone]
Fax [phone]

Dealer and Auctioneer of rare books,
manuscripts, maps and atlases

Info from: [email protected]
Catalogues can be seen on
www.godts.com
2 BIMCC Newsletter No 49 May 2014
EDITORIAL

Dear Map Friends,

You may recall that, back in 2009, Dr Alberto Ganado gave us a comprehensive overview of the
history of the ’Maps of Malta’ (with a seven page article in our Newsletters No 33 and 34). In this issue
Joseph Schirò, secretary of the Maltese Map Society, focuses on a specific map of Malta — that by
Matteo Perez d’Aleccio of the Great Siege of Malta in 1565 — on which he conducted very thorough
research. This captivating detective story takes us through the artistic world of the 16th century.
In this issue, the Map Circle opens up to the world of Iberian cartography, thanks to Thomas Horst
who has left his home city of Munich (see Newsletter No 46) for Lisbon; he gives us an update on his
work there at the Interuniversitary Center for the History of Science and Technology, and a report on
a recent workshop on cartography.
You will also find news of the most recent activities of the Map Circle: the excursion to Bruges
(illustrated on the centre fold), the Annual General Meeting and the Map

Evening.

Cartographically yours,
Jean-Louis Renteux
Vice-President & Editor
[email protected]
Contents
Looks at books
The Fourth Part of the World 4
Japoniae Insulae. The mapping of Japan 6
A curious and impertinent geography of France 7
Meridians - Texts, debates and passions about the Paris and Greenwich meridians 8
Shorter bibliographical notes 9
History and Cartography
The mystery surrounding the Matteo Perez d’Aleccio map prints of the Great Siege
of Malta of 1565 11
BIMCC news
Cartographic treasures of Bruges - BIMCC excursion - 18 February 2014 17
How I got into cartography: Tom Harper 20
Maps, Globes, Instruments and Books in the Early Modern History of Science 22
History of Iberian Cartography: from the Mediterranean to the World - Workshop 24
BIMCC Annual Activity Report, March 2013 – March 2014 25
16th Annual General Meeting 26
16th Map Evening 27
Cartography in times of war and peace - Symposium and conference 29
International news & events 30
Auction calendar 33
Cover: Detail of one of the frescoes at the Palace of the Grand Masters in Valletta, by Perez D'Aleccio. It
attempts to show the main successive events of the Great Siege of 1565 as if they were happening at the
same time. This painting inspired the copper plate engraved by Perez D'Aleccio, subject of the article on p. 11.

May 2014 BIMCC Newsletter No 49 33
LOOKS AT BOOKS I
The Fourth Part of the World. An astonishing epic of global discovery,
imperial ambition and the birth of America.
By Toby Lester
Free Press. New York. 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. 462 pp. including 82 figures in black/white and 11 full colour
plates. Also 19 not numbered figures of details of the Waldseemüller map in the heading of each chapter. Hardcover 2009 (paperback
2010). E-book also available. ISBN (hardcover) 978-1-4165-3531-7, (paperback) 978-1-4165-3534-8. Also available in French: ‘La
Quatrième Partie du Monde’. Ed. JC Lattès; ISBN 978-2-7096-3337-6. The price varies around 25-45 EUR.
First of all I would like to warn an American journalist, scholar and
readers of this Looks at Books that I am contributing editor to The Atlantic (a
not a professional cartographer and that cultural, literary and political magazine,
I have not received any formal schooling based in Washington, D.C.). He is a
in geographical history. I have been former Peace Corps volunteer and
since my youth just a lover of old maps United Nations observer. He lives in the
and their history. So I do not claim to Boston area. The present book is his
evaluate this book on its historical first, for which he received many
exactitude. Others have done this before awards and it was even named Book of
and most with very positive results1. But the Year. His second book, Da Vinci’s
I was so enthusiastic after having read Ghost (2012), deals with Leonardo’s
the French version that I bought the famous drawing of a man in a circle.
English version to read it for a second Now to the book. The Fourth Part of
time in order to review it for Maps in the World is a rather thick volume but
History to share my enthusiasm with beautifully written and vividly told and
others. never boring. Lester’s first aim is to tell
The author, Toby Lester (°1964), is the story of the Waldseemüller map of
1. See e.g. : Simon Winchester, author of The Map that Changed the World [book about William Smith (1769-1839) English surveyor, who
made the first geological maps].

Paulus Swaen GGGGrrrraaaaffffiiiieeeekkkk eeeennnn oooouuuuddddeeee kkkkaaaaaaaarrrrtttteeeennnn
AAAAaaaannnnkkkkoooooooopppp eeeennnn vvvveeeerrrrkkkkoooooooopppp
Internet Map Auctions
RRRRoooobbbb CCCCaaaammmmpppp TTTTeeeellll.... ++++33332222((((0000))))11111111 555599996666333333338888
BBBBeeeeuuuurrrrssssssssttttrrrraaaaaaaatttt 44446666 GGGGssssmmmm ++++33332222((((0000))))444499998888 777777772222555500005555
March-May-September-November 3333888833332222 UUUUllllbbbbeeeeeeeekkkk–––– WWWWeeeelllllllleeeennnn FFFFaaaaxxxx++++33332222((((0000))))11111111 555599996666333333338888
wwwwwwwwwwww....lllleeeexxxx----aaaannnnttttiiiiqqqquuuuaaaa....bbbbeeee rrrroooobbbb....ccccaaaammmmpppp@@@@lllleeeexxxx----aaaannnnttttiiiiqqqquuuuaaaa....bbbbeeee

Maps, Globes, Views, Atlases,
Prints

Catalogue on: www.swaen.com
E-mail: [email protected]

Tel. [phone]

Achter Clarenburg 2
3511 JJ UTRECHT Business by appointment only
THE NETHERLANDS [email protected]
4 BIMCC Newsletter No 49 May 2014
1507, which is described as America’s birth certificate. which he believed to be India. Amerigo Vespucci
He starts in the preface (xxi-xxiv) with a short review followed him to the New World (1499-1502).
which highlights the history of the map. In a prologue In Part Three, The Whole World, (p. 325-398) we
(Awakening p. 1-19) he continues to describe the see that Lester takes up Waldseemüller from where
further vicissitudes of the history of Waldseemüller’s he stopped at the end of his prologue. He describes
creation which ended with the acquisition of the now in the finest details the history of the
famous map by the Library of Congress in 2003 for Cosmography and the maps, until the final destination
the highest price ever paid for a map. (Finally the map of the 1507 map in the Library of Congress in 2007. In
was handed over by Angela Merkel to the U.S. in this part we get acquainted with the role of Matthias
2007). Ringmann, a collaborator in the creation of the
Then comes the core of the book (p. 23 – 323): Waldseemüller map, Alberto Cantino, a secret agent
Part One, the Old World and Part Two, the New of the Duke of Ferrara, Sebastian Münster who copied
World. No less than 300 pages are dedicated to the the 1507 map, Amerigo Vespucci himself, and even
history of mapmaking before the 16th century. The Nicolaus Copernicus and many other characters and
following pages (p. 325 – 393) form Part Three, the facts worth mentioning in the margin of the
Whole World. The titles of these three parts are a bit Waldseemüller map. Many of these things may also
confusing, especially because the entire world is more be found in J. W. Hessler’s and Ch. van Duzer’s book,
than what they actually cover! Seeing the World anew: the Radical Vision of Martin
In Part One, the Old World (p. 25-109), we meet Waldseemüller’s 1507 & 1516 World Maps2. Finally, in
among many others Claudius Ptolemy, Matthew Paris an appendix, the author also describes the so-called
with his medieval geographical thoughts, Macrobius Stevens-Brown map which bears the name America
with the Commentary on the Dream of Scipio, Isidore and apparently was considered a lost St. Dié map of
of Seville with the first T-O map, Willem van Waldseemüller (1506).
Ruysbroek in search of the Great Khan, and the These three parts add up to quite a lot of reading;
descriptions of elaborate Christian mappae mundi, and it really is more than about the vicissitudes of
and much more. Lester ends this part with the hybrid Waldseemüller, Ringman, Vespucci and others. It is a
world of Petrus Vesconte (1321) who brought together book that surveys mapmaking as a whole and the way
features of the mappae mundi and the marine charts, people imagined how the world was before Columbus.
and with the ideas of Roger Bacon who stated that in That this book is called by some reviewers a study on
the global scientific search ‘seeing is knowing’. I was how America got its name and in detail about the
personally very enthusiastic when I discovered in this Waldseemüller map is really an understatement. It is
part Saint Brendan (6th c.) the Irish monk on his seven much more. This is the main reason why I think this is
years’ long voyage in a sailing boat, Prester John the a book that should really have its place on the
legendary priest-king (12th c.), Sir John Mandeville bookshelf of every amateur, map collector or student.
(14th c.) the mythical world traveller, the Polo (14th c.) The 82 figures and even the colour plates are not
the Venetian merchants, and many others of whom I of the best quality. But this does not matter since it is
always wanted to know how they influenced mainly a study (and reading) book and one of the best
cartography. And here I found it. I have ever had in my hands. A timeline, an
In Part Two, the New World (p. 111-323), we find alphabetical index of persons (starting with Pierre
again an elaborate discourse on more geographical d’Ailly, and ending with Martin Waldseemüler himself),
history and mapmaking until the period of the extensive lists of notes and of the cited works, a
discovery of America by Columbus and Vespucci. detailed index and some suggestions for further
Lester writes about the influence of the Florentine reading make this the perfect work. The paperback
humanists (who knows, for instance, that Giovanni edition even contains a short Author Q&A to enhance
Boccacio besides being a poet was also a your reading enjoyment. Get this book and you’ll
geographer?) and the journeys of Gil Eanes, a never regret it.
Portuguese navigator who rounded Cape Bojador and
the West African coast, Fra Mauro who drew a mappa
mundi that shows the route around southern Africa to
the Far East (which was opened by Bartholomeu Dias
who reached the Cape of Good Hope in 1487). In the

meantime Lester comes back to Ptolemy and
Pierre Mattelaer
describes the first printed version of his Geography

(1477 — with maps). Further on we read about
[email protected]
Henricus Martellus’ world map (1489-90) and Martin

Behaim’s globe, constructed on the eve of Colombus’
first voyage to the fourth part of the world (1492)
2. Cf. Look at Books IV in the last BIMCC Newsletter No 48 (Jan. 2014), p. 12-13, by Thomas Horst. Toby Lester does not refer to the
Hessler’s and van Duzer’s book which was published in 2012 and was thus unknown to him in 2009. On the other hand, he refers to an
earlier publication of Hessler’s: The Naming of America: Martin Waldseemüller’s 1507 World Map and the Cosmographiae Introductio
(2008).
May 2014 BIMCC Newsletter No 49 55
LOOKS AT BOOKS II
Japoniae Insulae. The mapping of Japan

A historical introduction and cartobibliography of European Printed Maps of Japan before 1800

By Jason Hubbard
Houten, HES & De Graaf, Utrecht Studies on the History of Cartography (Explokart) vol. XIV . 2012, 444 pp., Clothbound with full colour
dust jacket, 32 x 24 cm, With over 374 full colour illustrations.
In English with extensive summary in Japanese, price: EUR 185.00 (excl. VAT) ISBN 978-90-6194-351-4
Japoniae Insulae systematically map, he included an island based on the
categorises and provides an overview of account of Marco Polo’s voyage of the
all the European printed maps of Japan Far East. Polo’s account of Japan was
published to 1800. The author has based on hearsay; he never visited the
undertaken a review of the literature, islands. But news on Japan filtered
conducted an exhaustive investigation in through to Europe through reports of the
major libraries and private collections Mongol Kubilai Khan’s late thirteenth
during his stay in the country between century designs on Japan.
1977 and 1980. He analysed these Another one hundred years would pass
findings and then compiled information on before the first Europeans accidentally
125 maps of Japan. A starting point for discovered Japan but, in the interim, that
his research was Tony Campbell’s did not stop a number of cartographers
monograph ‘Japan : European printed from including it on their maps, imaginary
maps to 1800’ (London : Map Collectors' as those depictions were. Over the next
Circle,1967). The work includes an image, either a fifty years of the first European contacts with Japan
digital scan or photograph of each map entry as well the resulting printed maps in the mid-sixteenth century
as a number of detailed close-up images which help were strongly influenced by the portolan manuscript
to identify various states. charts drawn by navigators who had visited Japan;
The main parts are: European mapping of Japan; these frequently included not only empirical data but
Indigenous mapmaking; Geographical non modern also information borrowed from Chinese, Korean and
Western maps of Japan. Japanese material. Often the information was
The ‘European Mapping of Japan’ section misunderstood and these derivative European maps
identifies and classifies all known printed single-sheet can, at times appear bizarre to the modern eye.
maps and charts concentrating on the Japanese The first relatively accurate depiction of the
islands and first issued in Europe before the year Japanese islands was the map entitled Japoniae
1800. The author has identified and listed 125 main Insulae Descriptio added by Abraham Ortelius to the
maps with their subsequent issues and states, 1595 edition of his world atlas Theatrum Orbis
bringing the total to over 200 items. The first time Terrarum.
Japan was mentioned on a European map was nearly By the mid-seventeenth century Japan closed its
a century before any European had actually visited doors to the rest of the world and the European
one of the islands. When, some time before 1459, Fra mapping of Japan could only progress again at the
Mauro, a Benedictine monk, completed his world end of the eighteenth century, when the country
opened up to the West.

The present work deals mainly

with European maps but indigenous

cartography also played a part.

Jason Hubbard collected his maps

during an assignment in Japan
between 1977 and 1980. It was
Jonathan Potter, the famous London
map dealer (and our sponsor!), who
was his main source.

The superb illustrations are each

explained by a very precise

commentary.

The author should be
congratulated for having written
such a well documented and
His Excellency Mr. Takashi Koezuka, Ambassador of Japan to The Netherlands, illustrated book.
receiving the book on 19 September 2012 in The Hague’s Louwman museum, in
the presence of several members of the Brussels Map Circle. From left to right:
Jean Petin
S. Hesselink (Director of Hes & De Graaf Publishers), H. Kok (IMCoS Chairman),
[email protected]
C. Klein, M. Van Den Broecke, F. Herbert, J. Hubbard (author of the book), P. van
der Krogt (Explokart Project leader), P. van Gestel (Explokart Editor in chief).
6 BIMCC Newsletter No 49 May 2014
LOOKS AT BOOKS III
La France – Géographie curieuse et insolite
[A curious and impertinent geography of France]
by Pierre Deslais
Rennes: Éditions Ouest France, 2011. 220 pp., over 300 ill., mostly in colour, maps of all 101 French départements, plus numerous loosely
inserted posters and maps of France (some folding). Hard cover, 25 x 22 cm. ISBN 978-2-7373-5455-7, EUR 25.00
In 1877, six years after the traumatic entertaining description of its
defeat France suffered in the Franco- geography. But it is the presentation of
Prussian war, a geography book was unusual and at times most surprising
published in Paris that would give natural or historical phenomena that
French school children and grown-ups makes this work stand out. Take, for
a new vision of their homeland. It was example, the story of the village named
the compelling story of Le Tour de la Y in the Somme, twinned with – you’ve
France par deux enfants (The Tour of guessed it – the town with the longest
France by two children) supposedly and quite unpronounceable name, in
written by G. Bruno, a pseudonym for North Wales2. Then read about the
Augustine Fouillée. André (14 years centre of France, officially established
old) and Julien (7), two orphan boys, in Vesdun (Cher) but energetically
fled by night from the German-occupied disputed by neighbouring communes as
part of Lorraine to walk to Marseilles to well. Or consider the other controversy
join their uncle. They then travelled over the geographical position of
from region to region until their journey ended near western Europe’s highest mountain, Mont Blanc
Orléans, having learnt about the human and also the (Haute-Savoie) which, at the time of its first ascent in
industrial environment, local customs and, above all, 1786, was shown to be on the boundary between
the natural beauty of the provinces they passed France and Italy on Italian maps, whilst French maps
through. The aim of this textbook was to create a new, placed it just on the other side, making it the highest
positive image of France and to give people back their mountain in Italy.
self-confidence and pride in their country. Some posters and folding maps are loosely
If I dwell a little on this subject it is for two reasons. inserted in the book, either in slip pockets or held in
Firstly, this intriguing geography reader was the place by detachable glue drops between the pages. A
subject of a fascinating lecture at the last ICHC in knowledge-based game with rewards is found at the
Helsinki1 in which American researcher Catherine end of the book, and a 22-piece puzzle of the 22
Dunlop underlined the importance of geography and French regions is fixed on the inside back cover.
cartography in France at that time. We will hear more Considering the hand-crafting involved in making
about it in due course. Secondly, the author of the each volume, its price seems most reasonable. The
book presented here has clearly been inspired by the front cover should not mislead you: this publication,
Tour de la France, but he has like its companion history book
liberally changed the scenario in that came out shortly
the sense that the moralizing afterwards3, is not really meant
and patriotic slant has given way for children. It will make pleasant
to a fresh and sometimes reading for any adult in France
amusing approach to presenting and may be a revelation for
France’s lesser known those abroad who have an
geographical, historical and, of inkling of French. As such it
course, culinary aspects. As can might quite unintentionally
be seen in the illustration, the promote the creation, at last, of a
circuit covers much more ground French Map Circle – who knows.
than did the two boys on their
travels, touching all 96
continental Departments, plus
five Departments overseas.
This amazing book offers a
double page for each of these,
with a small modern Wulf Bodenstein
topographical map and an [email protected]
1. The Woman who mapped the French Republic: Augustine Fouillée’s cartographic Tour de France, by Catherine Dunlop, Assistant
Professor, Montana State University
2. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
3. La France – Histoire curieuse et insolite (A curious and impertinent history of France) by Pierre Deslais and Rodolphe Ferron, ISBN
978-2-7373-5781-7, EUR 27.00
May 2014 BIMCC Newsletter No 49 77
LOOKS AT BOOKS IV
Méridien, Méridienne - Textes, enjeux, débats et passions autour des
méridiens de Paris et de Greenwich (1783–2000)
[Meridians - Texts, debates and passions about the Paris and Greenwich meridians]
by Anita McConnell and Jean Pierre Martin
Cherbourg, Editions Isoète, 2013. ISBN 978-2-35776-059-2. HB, 168, 59 illustrations. EUR 24.00.
This is not a novel of Mr Méridien Wilhelm Bessel and Carl Friedrich

and Mrs Méridienne having a love affair Gauss developed better standards
over a long period. No, the two authors and the achievements of the Russian
are serious historians joining forces Arc, the Great Arc of India and also
and resources to give a detailed the Arc of the 30th Meridian in South
account of the Paris Méridienne and Africa under David Gill were
the Greenwich Meridian, which became developed without French
the prime meridian for astronomic and participation.
time calculations. The text is written in Additionally, the discovery of a
French. discrepancy of 1.84 m in the base
In the Preface Suzanne Débarbat, measurement near Perpignan and the
honorary astronomer at the Paris angle error made by Méchain further
observatory, sketches the period from Jean-Félix damaged France’s reputation.
Picard’s first meridian to the introduction of the metre The history of the International Meridian
as a universal standard. Conference held in Washington in 1884 and its
The book is divided in twelve chapters in implications for navigation are also dealt with in great
chronological order with twelve articles focusing on detail. The book discusses how agreement was
specific topics: geodetic instruments of the eighteenth negotiated and arrived at by the diplomats during
century, the map of France by Colonel Berthoud, and after the conference for time to be measured
cartography from Dieppe, the Struve Meridian Arc. from Greenwich and the metre accepted as the
The story starts with the meridian line implant, universal measurement.
emanating in 1666 from the new Observatory in Paris, The chapters on French cartography during the
authorised by Louis XIV and overseen by Colbert who nineteenth century are (for me) of great interest as
had created the Académie des sciences. L’abbé they describe the situation without the veils of secrecy
Picard was the first to measure one degree of the associated with national pride and military sensitivity.
Meridian, to try and calculate the size of the earth; he The chapters cover the influence of François Perrier
published his results in 1671: La Mesure de la Terre. and his corrections to the French Meridian and the
The Cassini family for four generations have extension to the Baleares and North Africa and his
played a major role in French astronomy and intervention in the revision of the Arc in Peru, which
especially in the quest for the figure of the earth. The brought French geodesy back to the centre of the
result was the Carte de France amended and Association Internationale de Géodésie.
structured on the basic triangulation from Dunkerque The authors develop a chapter on the Struve
to Barcelona. The Franco-Anglaise rivalry had its ups Meridian. Inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage
and downs also in the eighteenth century, and the List in 2005 it stretches across ten countries from
liaison of the two observatories and the triangulation Hammerfest in North Norway to Staro-Nekrasovka,
carried out on both sides of the channel are studied in near Ismail on the Black Sea, a distance of 2 821 833
more detail than in other English or French books on metres. This arc was extended over the
the subject. The 1787 map shows the triangulations Mediterranean Sea and down the 30th Meridian to
on both sides to connect the two observatories. Buffelsfontein in the Republic of South Africa to
During the French revolution the Méridienne was develop an overall length of 104°, and waits hopefully
re-measured by Jean-Baptiste Joseph Delambre and to be inscribed on to the World Heritage List before
Pierre Méchain, and it was Delambre who published too long.
the famous Base du système métrique décimal. The In 2000 the ‘Méridienne verte’ project (The Green
authors go into great detail about the process to Meridian) was devised to popularise the history of the
construct the provisional metre and the final metre in meridian. It involved planting trees along the length
platinum, now preserved in the Breteuil Pavillon. The of the Paris Meridian, and Mr Méridien and Mrs
confusing situation and the many changes in the Méridienne enjoyed an enormous

administration of French cartography was not helpful picnic on the Green Meridian from
and by the middle of the 1850s France was no Dunkerque to Perpignan.
longer the leader in this field. The German scientists
Jan De Graeve
Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, Friedrich
[email protected]
This review first appeared in the IMCoS Journal, No 136 Spring 2014.
8 BIMCC Newsletter No 49 May 2014
LOOKS AT BOOKS V
Shorter bibliographical notes

by Wulf Bodenstein
Die Weltkarte des Nicolas de Fer aus dem Jahr 1694
[The world map by Nicolas de Fer, 1694]
by Heinz Musall
Brochure published by Hochschule Karlsruhe – Technik und Wirtschaft, Fakultät für Informationsmanagement und Medien, Karlsruhe,
2012. Vol. 8 in Series C, Ancient Maps, of the Karlsruher Geowissenschaftliche Schriften. 44 pp., ill. plus folding map reproduction, soft
cover, 23.5 x 16.5 cm. ISBN 978-3-89063-607-8, EUR 19.00 To order : Hochschule Karlsruhe – Technik und Wirtschaft, Fakultät für Infor-
mationsmanagement und Medien, Moltkestr. 30, D-76133 Karlsruhe.
This four-sheet world map in two rear pocket) is the first and very rare edi-

hemispheres is entitled Mappe-Monde, tion, with partial text borders, held in the
ou Carte Generale de la Terre, divisée en Badische Landesbibliothek in Karlsruhe.
deux Hemispheres suivant la Projection Following introductory chapters on the
la plus commune [General map of the reformation of cartography around 1700
earth, divided into two hemispheres and on de Fer’s publishing firm, Musall
according to the most common analyses the map under the aspects of
projection]. It is of interest on account of map projection, scale, map content and
de Fer’s attempt to update the image of decoration. The descriptive border texts,
the world based on recent scientific ob- completed from a later edition, are trans-
servations, and because the highly deco- lated from French into German in the An-
rative borders present a telling panorama nex. A very useful work for further re-
of the world as then known. The map de- search.
scribed here and reproduced in 80% of
the original size (folded and inserted in a
The Charting of Maltese Waters, A Historical Account
by William Soler and Albert Ganado
San Gwann, Malta: BDL Publishing, 2013 – xx, 140 pp., 65 mostly colour ill., hard cover and dust jacket, 28 x 22 cm. ISBN 978-99957-33-
99-5, EUR 40.00 (32.00 for members of the Malta Map Society).
To order: BDL Publishing, 13, Giorgio Preca Street, San Gwann SGN 3511, Malta
Although placed in the centre of chartmakers, such as Dudley, the van
the Mediterranean Sea, Malta was not Keulens, Goos, Bellin, as well as Le-
prominently shown on early nautical vanto, Pimentel, Alagna, among oth-
charts due to its relatively small size. ers.
Historians have not so far shown Master Alexander Briarly of HMS
much interest in researching the large Audacious is the author of six charts
corpus of maritime representation of made during the French blockade in
the Maltese Islands to study the de- 1798 which he dedicated to Lord Nel-
velopment of navigation to and from son, an interesting story told in a
Malta. This book is the first attempt at chapter on ‘The Napoleonic Connec-
doing so: it recounts the history of the tion’. The last chapter is devoted
charting of Maltese waters from the mainly to British nautical surveys from
late fifteenth to the nineteenth cen- 1813 on, and the book closes with two
tury. appendices with verbatim quotes from
After an introductory review of the two printed portolans, followed by a
antique art of navigation the subjet is bibliography and an index.
addressed chronologically in the fol- This is another well researched con-
lowing seven Chapters. The first tribution to Malta’s cartographic his-
charts of Malta drawn in manuscript form are by tory, admirably complementing previous works of ref-
Buondelmonti (ca. 1470) and Pīrī Re’īs (ca. 1520), erence directed and published by Albert Ganado. Pro-
and this technique remained in use well into the late duced to the standard of excellence we have come to
18th century, illustrated with ms. charts by eleven expect from works by Ganado, this book will be a
other mapmakers. Willem Barents contributed the first valuable addition to the library of all those with an
printed nautical chart of the region in 1595, to be fol- interest in the history of the Mediterranean and its
lowed by those of illustrious but also less well-known central archipelago, Malta.
May 2014 BIMCC Newsletter No 49 99
Rund um die Globen – In memoriam Rudolf Schmidt
[Around the globe - In commemoration of Rudolf Schmidt]
edited by Jan Mokre
Illustrated brochure published by Johanna Rachinger, Director General of the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna.
36 pp., ill. Contact Generaldirektion der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek, Josefsplatz 1, A-1015 Wien, [email protected]
Prof. Rudolf Schmidt, distinguished There are three further articles in
globe historian and collector, English by Elly Dekker (Thoughts on
president of the International Coronelli Blaeu’s 34 cm celestial globe of
Society for the Study of Globes from 1603), Marica Milanesi (Gores of
1978 to 2000, died in September Coronelli’s globes in the Rudolf
2013. A Festschrift had been Schmidt collection), and Peter van der
prepared for his 90th birthday on 23 Krogt (The terrestrial globe of Gemma
January 2014, but this became a Frisius [c. 1537]). Paul Kunitzsch
posthumus presentation at a discusses Der arabische
reception in the Palais Mollard in Himmelsglobus in der Sammlung
Vienna, home of the Globe Museum. Rudolf Schmidt, and Wolfram Dolz
Six articles by Jan Mokre, Johannes describes Das Planetarium von John
Dörflinger, Heide Wohlschläger, Peter Handsford, um 1780.
Allmayer-Beck, Walter Wiesinger and The text is supplemented by an
Friedrich Närr pay homage to Rudolf impressive bibliography of his
Schmidt’s life as a collector of globes publications (50 titles) and a listing of
and an industrial manager, and to the 47 exhibitions which he either co-
role he played in the Österreichische curated or to which he lent globes,
Nationalbibliothek and the Coronelli Society. instruments and reference books from his collection.
10 BIMCC Newsletter No 49 May 2014